In the game of golf, a hole-in-one is an extremely exciting and rare event. The odds of making a hole-in-one have been estimated to be between 2,500 to 1 for a professional golfer to 12,500 to 1 for an average golfer. The excitement of making a hole-in-one make it suitable for various types of contests. Large cash and prize awards are often given to golfers who can accomplish this feat during regular play of a golf tournament, or during special hole-in-one contests.
In some competitions, the competitors are automatically entered in a hole-in-one contest as part of their entrance fee to the general golf competition. In other types of hole-in-one contests, the only contest is actually making a hole-in-one for a particular hole, but it is not during a full round of play. Due to the excitement of making a hole-in-one, golfers may want to partake in a prize-offered hole-in-one contest even if no official contest is being offered at a nearby golf course.
Hole-in-one contests for large prizes would bring added excitement to a game when golfers are just playing socially with each other. However, there are challenges to administering a hole-in-one contest for prizes during a game amongst friends. Foremost is that there is no objective observer to verify that a hole-in-one was actually made. There have been several attempts to create systems and methods to administer a hole-in-one contest when there is no official observer to verify the hole-in-one. These systems and methods all have various shortcomings. Some of these systems and methods for administering a hole-in-one contest include the following:
In U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20110034223A1 to O'Leary et al., O'Leary discloses a golf course that has a kiosk and numerous cameras stationed throughout the golf course. Some cameras are positioned view the tee, while others are positioned to view the greens and the cup. The player can enter a hole-in-one contest by initiating payment at a kiosk, which then turns on cameras stationed about the hole. The recorded event can be verified by a third party and the hole-in-one is verified.
In U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20060084529A1 to Burkons, Burkons discloses a system and method for administering a golf contest where a player is entered into a contest after purchasing an item (such a bag of golf balls), without separately paying to enter a contest. The system uses several cameras stationed about a golf course, which record the event, and the event is verified by a third party across a wired or wireless network.
In U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20010021673 to Cleveland, Cleveland discloses a hole-in-one video registration system. The registration system includes a system for the collection and pay-out of funds donated to charities, and for tracking and auditing transactions to deter and eliminate fraudulent activities. The system also uses at least two cameras, one showing the tee, and the other showing the cup.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,391 to Ainsworth, Ainsworth discloses a method and apparatus for uniquely identifying a golf ball at a target. The apparatus includes a ball vending machine that can uniquely mark a ball to identify a golfer. The apparatus also includes a ball collector that can detect the ball specifically coded for the golfer. A camera monitors the target and ball detection/ID assembly. The balls may have a unique radio frequency tag that identifies the individual ball. Other patents disclose other means to uniquely identify balls, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,815 to Helderman, which discloses a passive transponder embedded with a ball so that the ball can be tracked.
The systems and methods currently used to administer hole-in-one competitions often require pre-installed kiosks and pre-installed video cameras, which may or may not exist at every golf course. Many of the systems and methods involved also require specialized golf balls. Therefore, there remains a need for improved systems and methods to administer a hole-in-one contest.